Vault’s Verdict

A leader in government and defense consulting, Booz Allen Hamilton continues to uphold its standards of innovation and excellence despite the unprecedented turbulence of this year. Insiders praise the firm’s rapid and proactive response to the Covid-19 pandemic, placing particular emphasis on the flexibility, sensitivity to familial obligations, and prioritization of health & wellness initiatives.

Much of the resilience with which Booz Allen Hamilton has met the pandemic comes from its intense focus on people. This is not only evident in the strong firm culture that has facilitated an easier transition to remote work, but also in its quality-of-life-focused compensation packages, its ample training opportunities, and its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

As the industry looks towards a post-Covid-19 world, Booz Allen Hamilton insiders believe the firm’s long and storied history, as well as its leadership in fields like AI and cybersecurity, will support a positive business outlook despite the difficulties posed by the pandemic.

Firm Culture

• “Booz Allen has carried its employees through every government shutdown and continues to provide incredible support during the pandemic. Leadership truly embody our core values.”
• “Culture sets Booz Allen apart from the competition. Consulting has a terrible reputation of work/life balance, hours, and even bad personalities. At Booz Allen, I feel supported as a person and employee, with room and opportunities for growth but little pressure to sacrifice my wellbeing. I love working with intelligent, interesting people who are actually kind...I did not experience that kindness and acceptance at my last firm. Any challenges I face are because I am learning a difficult skill, not because of a frustrating and draining culture. Being able to do technical work, not churn out PowerPoints that are barely referenced, keeps my work inspiring. We are happy at Booz Allen, not just faking how happy we are when networking with Leadership.”
• “Be ready to go to work and advocate for yourself. There are lots of opportunities on the job, through education and finding your passion. Don't wait for the work to come to you, volunteer, get involved!.”
• “Excellent work/life balance and the firm believes in representing strong social corporate responsibility. The prestige of working at Booz Allen means you get to work and learn from some truly brilliant people who are eager to help you grow.”
• “I'm sure every firm says their people, but the people at Booz Allen are just absolutely amazing. Everyone actually cares about their work and loves learning and growing. They're so kind and willing to give their time. You can reach out to anyone in the firm from fellow new hires to Vice Presidents and schedule time to get to know them and everyone's genuinely interested in getting to know you and in helping out.”
• “If you're willing to be flexible with your role and responsibilities and eager to challenge yourself and grow, you will have tremendous opportunities available to you.”

Quality of Life

• “Booz Allen is committed to ensuring employees have good quality of life.  Extremely proactive during Covid-19 constraints and ensured all employees felt secure.”
• “I am very pleased with the work-life balance and the number of hours worked. I have much more time than many of my peers to pursue personal growth areas. As I mentioned, I hope we can continue to enjoy the great benefits of time off.”
• “Messaging about work/life balance has increased significantly since COVID-19.  Apparently, people are working longer hours (no commute and no other commitments to get to) and also taking less vacation (nowhere to go), so the firm is reminding people to set boundaries and still take time for wellness/mental health.”
• “Booz Allen is very accommodating of vacation and definitely encourages us to use our vacation time. In my experience, someone on my team has been able to cover my duties while I'm on vacation, so I don't need to work.”
• “BAH has a program that encourages employees to focus on not only their physical health, but their mental health as well. They reward you monetarily for participating in the program because health and wellness of the people is a top priority for the firm.”
• “Booz Allen offers a wide range of health insurance options. Throughout the year, the firm sponsors events to encourage physical, psychological and financial wellness. Programs such as, Power Up Challenge, promote team fitness events, e.g. most miles walked over a given period of time, and the company provides resources, such as free step counters, to enable teams' success. Through the firm's FlexEd program, employees receive tuition assistance to pursue degrees, professional certifications, or to simply earn hours applicable to a finite skills development need, e.g. 6 hours of JAVA programming to facilitate better project performance.”

Career Development

• “Booz Allen has a strong focus on career development and retention, which manifests in exceptional training opportunities, tuition assistance, and other educational benefits.  There is also an emphasis on diversity, ensuring that we develop a diverse group of potential leaders.  The only downside to this is that the resulting solid retention, with many having long careers in the firm, also means that growth is the only real path to progression, since leadership does not turn over rapidly.  This can make senior level promotions slow, though at junior levels they can be very fast.”
• “Strong mentor and professional development programs available. Working remotely is a bit of a challenge in terms of rising above the associate level but there is a path and sponsors who support you through task leadership and career managers who meet with you often.”
• “The firm provides endless virtual resources through Udemy and other training platforms. In addition, they provide (now virtual) classroom training courses that leverage industry skills and train how they are applied at the firm (e.g., writing). Senior leaders are very supportive of approving time to attend training. An area of improvement may be the amount allotted for training per year; training is expensive and I can only afford 1-2 (external) courses a year; would like more if possible!”
• “The promotion process is clearly laid out and objective. However, there are very limited slots to jump into the senior level positions (i.e. Senior Associate and above). You may have a very strong business case and reputation, but if there are limited seats at the table, you will have to wait. And there are many looking to sit. The training programs are outstanding. There are formal training classes brought in for in-person training and ample asynchronous classes as well. Employees are not only given a generous amount of annual training dollars, but they are also provided up to 40hours of time away from client work specifically for training. This benefit outpaces most of our competitors.”
• “Variable promotion standards are the worst aspect. Training and mentorship is a huge strength, especially Booz Allen's commitment to diversity and inclusion training and inclusive leadership education.”
• “There is a continual environment of learning, development, and opportunity and after a period in a job, there is no harm in moving to a new work stream, even one outside my current skills if the opportunity to develop new ones exists. Before all of the visible racial tensions that surfaced this year, I might have said the firm was spending too much time on diversity (as opposed to talent searches for skills). Now I believe they were on the cutting edge and continue to embrace diversity openly, which is not new.”

Compensation

• “Compensation can be a little low when you start, but with promotions and year end raises/bonuses, your compensation will greatly increase during your tenure.”
• “Compensation is limited in many ways by the rates government clients are willing to pay for contract workers, as well as significant overhead costs. Eligibility for bonuses does not start until the Senior Associate level, which requires significantly greater time involvement compared to compensation, although more junior employees are expected to contribute (but not responsible for) business development and capture.”
• “Medical benefits are much superior to the small consulting firms I have worked for in the past and the education benefits are both significant in amount and available very year which permits development of new skills or job change.”
• “My favorite Booz Allen Hamilton perks include their wellness perks, flexible time, Employee Stock Plan, education and training perks, as well as great health care plans, and leave allowance. There are many opportunities to volunteer with Booz Allen, give back to the community, and assist in natural disasters.”
• “Compensation is good, although it could be better. 401(k) match is excellent (dollar-for-dollar, up to 6%).”
• “Great health insurance choices, matching level for 401k, HSA pretax dollars, donating and matching programs for charities, life and disability insurance for myself and my wife are all reasons to stay. There is also a culture of support with the ability to share your PTO time with others. The response to racism from direct donations to organizations to firm wide review by an independent contractor has been amazing and points to not only talking the talk but walking the walk!”

Diversity

• “As an LGBTQ individual, I feel 100% confident that the firm not only supports diversity, but actively encourages it and supports minority communities wholeheartedly.”
• “I have never worked for another firm that so obviously valued the contribution and capabilities of the employee independent of their background. It is obviously deeply embedded into the culture and not tacked on. There is a strong sense of respect and almost family within the firm, but not family in a hokey or cloying manner, more like familiar and trusted respect. This goes for everyone.”
• “Our leaders share the processes being worked for diversity, engagement and inclusion and the firm recognizes how diversity brings so much more to the table in solving the clients’ most critical missions.”
• “The firm has been striving for greater diversity and inclusion within the organization. They have massively impressed me (as a person of color) by the efforts they made before AND after what has currently been impacting society.”
• “Booz Allen comes from a history as an old boys club (tied to the heavy focus on military) but has made dramatic strides in the past 10 years and there has been visible change even before this year. Especially with the Black Lives Matter events of 2020, they have renewed focus on this area, and are making concrete steps toward additional change. I look forward to seeing what the next year will bring, but I feel good about the direction and intention of the company/leadership.”
• “Booz Allen does a lot of business with the DoD and the intelligence community. Their support of military veterans is incredible - the majority of people I work with are veterans. Booz Allen definitely walks the talk in this regard.”

Outlook

• “Booz Allen has been very supportive and pro-active during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leadership has done well balancing client and employee needs during this time, so they are positioned to do extremely well during a time that many companies are seeing losses.”
• “Booz Allen's forward-looking mindset, emphasis on cybersecurity capabilities, and commitment to employee wellbeing created a unique advantage for the firm heading into the pandemic. The firm was able to pull most workers from client sites and advocated for our safety to clients that were unhappy with work-from-home policies. For that reason, employee morale has remained high and the firm is operating at nearly the same capacity that it was since before the pandemic. Given Booz Allen's role in supporting the public sector, employees have embraced the mission to create better solutions for businesses and agencies and support our communities. Given that Booz Allen's strengths lie in AI and cybersecurity, the firm is well-positioned for success throughout the pandemic response and the presidential election regardless...”
• “Despite COVID 19 we continue to grow and achieve goals. We are hiring and winning more business. Challenges with teleworking exist for those working on clients’ sites as our clients lack capabilities, but our firm is actively working with our clients to close the gap between our capabilities and those of our clients.”
• “Firm was able to conduct business during full time telework for 85% or more of workforce due to Coronavirus.  Still remains in good position financially and was able to pivot to telework and support clients.”
• “Overall very strong leadership, big commitment to innovation, invests heavily in growth, and well positioned in the market. Employee morale is generally high, industry and trade news is generally good, and has a very strong niche with government service - a very stable industry - as well as growth areas of cyber and IT.”
• “We are a public company and i have recently listened to an earnings call. I am happy to say everything I heard on the call matched with everything I hear on the inside. I feel we are looking towards the future and acting in agile ways: open to opportunities and looking to shape our future not just benefit from where the industry is today.”

Hiring Process

• “The Firm follows through with a comprehensive, team type interview, with a rapid callback for notification of acceptance and/or rejection.  The Firm's ideal candidate is someone looking for a skillset stretching individual who can blossom in a small or large team environment.  An individual who wants to be challenged in the successful completion of the daily and task associated endeavors.”
• “We hire differently depending on the levels. We have campus recruiting programs at partner schools and often hire experienced professionals from other consulting firms or the industry. Our firm culture emphasizes the ability to execute and operate across all levels of the client environment and the ideal candidate should have sufficient technical acumen to be presented to clients.”
• “Interview process may fluctuate depending on the specific group within the firm. For example, a data scientist would be asked more technical data science questions, while still pairing it with overall consulting expertise. Overall, a typical interview process may include three-four phases, with varying levels of panels and case studies.”
• “Booz Allen loves a self-starter, someone who is curious, driven and has the desire to grow at the firm. Typically you get a screening call form HR, interview with hiring manager/other admin folks and then follow-up with an offer (or email saying no longer in consideration for that role).”
• “After submitting my application, I was interviewed by a recruiter who told me about the basic position and asked me about my resume. I then had an interview with two Lead Associates for the specific position, and finally had an oral and written offer and salary negotiation with another recruiter. The firm is seeking candidates who are curious and flexible and who can shape their own careers, work well as a cohesive team, and live by the firm's values.”
• “Candidates are interviewed by up to 4 potential managers/coworkers, process generally starts with telephone screening by recruiting then interview with hiring manager and potential coworkers followed by a hiring decision and notification of the candidate on hiring decision. We look for candidates with a professional attitude, applicable education and/or work experience and we feel will fit the firms inclusive culture.”

Interview Questions

• “Behavioral and situational questions centered on case studies, preceded by a long conversation to get to know the individual. Very refreshing.”
• “Interviews usually consist of pointed questions regarding the potential hire's knowledge on the subject matter pertaining to the position they are applying for, like their knowledge with risk analysis, government documentation, facilitating working groups, organizational design and development, etc.”
• “Competitive but not outrageous. Looks for people that fit the culture, and will train the skills.”
• “Have you ever felt pressure to change your judgments or assessments from a policymaker or senior leader? If so, how did you respond?”
• “Booz Allen is looking to see if you are a good fit to the culture of the firm. The skills you use may change project to project, but the personality and abilities you bring are consistent. Booz Allen is looking for a well-rounded consultant that shows innovation and passion.”
• “Explain experiences. Describe how past/current experiences apply to the position one interviews.  Education, critical thinking, problem solving, working on teams, technology, self-management are all basic skills/experience requirements. Research Booz Allen mission, purpose, values and be prepared to align your experience with those during an interview.”